Youth league offenses and player development

Youth League Offense and Player Development

• Indiana High School legend Pat Rady asked a thought-provoking question regarding good offenses to run at the youth levels to prepare players for the next level (high school).I found the question thought-provoking because it brings up an extremely important aspect of the youth game….player development. The more I think about the question in terms of what offense to run, the more I feel like I’m missing the point. I think a lot of youth coaches are missing the point as well.

What you run isn’t nearly as important as how well you teach the game, especially at the youth level. It is also extremely important to understand that the two concepts are not the same – this is one of the more common mistakes that youth coaches make.

This is not to say that youth teams shouldn’t run offenses. Teams at all levels need structure. I am definitely not a proponent of the, “Ready, Fire!” approach. It’s always better to throw an “aim” in there to add some direction.

How you aim can vary from program to program. Given my choice, I tend to prefer running motion, for a couple of reasons, but I’ll give some thoughts on a couple of different offenses

Motion

1. Good motion encourages ball and player movement

2. Motion encourages player development by putting players in different positions on the floor.

• Coaching note: the counter-argument to this states that coaches should only put players in a ‘position to succeed’ and/or coaches shouldn’t exploit their players’ weaknesses (translation: “Put the big boy in the paint where he belongs!“)
• My response:
  • If you’re saying this because you’re worried that the big guy is going to turn the ball over, you’d better hope that he grows up to be 7′0″. Otherwise, you’ve done that kid a disservice by failing to prepare him to play the perimeter.
  • If my big guy catches the ball on the perimeter, I’m not asking him to do anything more than make an intelligent decision with the ball. Most of the time, all that means is facing the basket and passing to the open man.
  • If you’re saying this because you have a height advantage that you should be exploiting – any motion can be adjusted to meet your needs.

Motion can come with some problems too, specifically:

• Playing without purpose. Its easy for a motion offense to fall apart into a lame-duck routine of repetitive passing-and-screening-away – especially for youth teams who are still learning where the scoring opportunities are.

Flex

The Flex can be a great attack because it has motion elements within a continuity framework, making it more predictable and easier to execute aggressively. Does that make it more predictable to the opponent as well? Maybe, but that doesn’t mean they can stop us.

Dribble Drive

This is a good offense. The idea of dribble penetration has been around forever, and it has always been one of the most difficult and aggressive offensive actions to defend. The prevalence of motion offenses has probably caused coaches to de-emphasize dribbling too much in recent years. The dribble drive has been effective at reminding us of the value of the drive. The notion that it has revolutionized basketball is a bit overblown. Did the Triangle Offense revolutionize basketball? Or did Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen have anything to do with it? Memphis could have run a shotgun formation last year and been a top 5 team – Derrick Rose will make any offense look good.

Read and React

Similar to the Dribble Drive – the Read and React is a very well put together offense. It is taught well too.

The notion that it will revolutionize youth basketball and the way the game is taught? Give me a break. The Read and React is built on sound motion basketball concepts that have been around since God was a boy.

For that reason, the Read and React is good basketball.

The notion that it is revolutionary is good marketing, which is important for a 170$ product.

I’ve been reading about how the Read and React is a perfect feeder offense. Again, it is probably very good. So is motion. The winningest High School Coach in Washington state history runs a flex. The bottom line is that the Read and React can’t build feeder programs.

Building them in the first place is BY FAR the greatest challenge facing coaches who dream of building state powerhouses starting with second grade feeder programs.

In most areas. building feeder programs is difficult because of social problems like transient communities, unemployment, gentrification, single parent households, etc., etc. So unless the Read and React Offense can cure hunger, it probably isnt any better or worse than motion, flex, etc. at developing talent.

The reality is that there are a lot of great offenses out there that can work well. I think it’s more important ot focus on developing basic, sound skill sets for players.

Here are a few idea concerning player development that should be developed with all youth players, regardless of position:

Feeding the post from the wings and understanding passing angles into the post (3 and 5) Starting the offense by dribbling out of the middle (1) for a better passing angle. Getting open on the perimeter with V-cuts – waling the defender towards the block, closing trhe gap, and exploding out for the entry pass
Headhunting on perimeter screens – screening bodies. Influencing on screens -rubbing shoulders off of screens
Understanding dribble penetration – getting to the basket using a maximum of 2 dribbles Attacking the elbows on dribble penetration – receivers should slide out of the defender’s field of vision

Filed Under: Basketball Offense

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